


when all the giants fell

by flamebirds



Series: the age of icons [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Episode: s01e16 Failsafe, Justice League Is Dead, Post-Episode: s01e16 Failsafe, The Team Is Dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26178697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flamebirds/pseuds/flamebirds
Summary: No one else is coming. The League is dead, the Team is dead, and they are all that remains.
Series: the age of icons [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1901098
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	when all the giants fell

**Author's Note:**

> I know that 'Failsafe actually happened' is a massive trope in this fandom but... I'm kinda gonna be running in a different direction with it? The Team, as well as the League, is dead, you know the drill, except the Team very much is dead and that very much includes Robin. Yes, I murdered children, yes, I'll do it again, no, you cannot stop me.

She still can't breathe.

The entire thing doesn't feel real. The League, her _father,_ can't really be ━━ it can't be real. There's no way. The last day, it has to be a nightmare, some fucked up dream that she just hasn't woken up from yet.

But Rocket's shoulder is solid and the smell of ash is a firm part of their reality now, written into its very fabric. And it's all wrong, so very wrong, and she wishes, she begs, to be taken back just a day earlier. Maybe she could warn them all of what's coming, maybe she could change the fate's design.

Maybe her dad would still be alive.

A sob rips itself from Zatanna's throat before she can stop it, and she hides herself in Rocket's jacket. It's nice. _She's_ nice. Zee thinks, that even if this hadn't happened, they would've met. They would've been friends.

She's... not sure what her relationship is with any of the people in Mount Justice.

There's Red Arrow, Green Arrow's grumpy sidekick that led them with a level head, that didn't crack even once, that's staring so hollowly at the wall. She saw the news clip, watched as his mentor and Black Canary were reduced down to nothing. He must have seen it too and even if he didn't, even if he was spared from that, he must know the truth by now.

No one else is coming. The League is dead, the Team is dead, and they are all that remains.

Tula and Garth are close together, huddled up and whispering in cracked Atlantian. Her dad had always wanted her to learn that language... he said he was going to teach her and now he's never going to have a chance, because he's _dead,_ because everyone she's ever loved, ever known, is _gone._

Rocket's arm wraps around her like she knows what she's thinking. Probably, Zee thinks, because she's thinking the same thing herself, the telltale tears running silently down her cheeks.

"What do we do now?" She asks, her voice a hoarse whisper.

Tula, who summoned tidal waves, who fought with terrifying anger, replies dully, "Garth and I are going to try and find Kaldur'ahm. If there's a chance he's still out there..."

"He's not", Arrow snaps. "None of them are."

"We have to try", she argues back. "I _won't_ give up on him."

Zatanna looks at her, at her eyes shining with unshed tears, and she wonders what Kaldur was to her. She didn't really get time to know him, didn't get time to know _any_ of them... but she knows every member of the Team was a good person. All they did was try to help people and she's pretty sure that they paid for that with their lives. No good deed goes unpunished, after all.

Garth doesn't look much better. He grips onto the metal of his seat, unbothered when it caves under the force of his strength.

She wipes at her tears, trying her best to dry her eyes. "We need to come up with a plan."

"A plan", Rocket echoes.

"Yeah", Zee says. "A plan. The world needs to know there are still heroes left."

"Are there?" Red Arrow asks her. "Because all I see is a bunch of kids."

"Zatanna's right", Raquel says softly. "We're the only ones left."

"You don't know that!" Tula agrees. "King Orin could still━━"

"Every member of the League is dead", Arrow says harshly. "Tornado sent out the signal... they're all gone."

"We're needed in Atlantis anyway", Garth replies. He seems so far away, too caught up in his thoughts to truly pay attention to the conversation around him. "Poseidonis will be in chaos."

"The whole _world_ is in chaos", Zatanna argues. "People need us!"

"The Invasion's over. We're done here."

She shakes her head. "We're _not._ There's gonna be civilians caught in the rubble, injured people in need of medical attention, the━━"

"We're _done,_ Zatanna", he repeats. "We're not the fucking Justice League. We can't help people like they did."

"We can try!"

"You're welcome to", he says, slinging his scorched bow over his shoulder. "I've got better things to do."

All her arguments die on her tongue as his storms towards the exit. The zeta tubes have long since stopped working, cutting out before they could stop it. It made movement harder, with Zatanna's spells only able to get them so far.

She's been running off her grief, her rage, for the past twenty-four hours, caught in a state between reality and a dream. She doesn't want this to set in, doesn't want this hellish new world to become her normal.

It's going to happen. It's inevitable, but right now, she wants to hold onto yesterday, to when her dad was alive, when she had simple dreams of joining the Team.

Those seem so shallow now. The Team is dead. She didn't even know them, not really. Not like Roy, Tula and Garth did. They have a right to sharp pain when they think about their fellow heroes. Zatanna doesn't, Zatanna didn't even get a chance to find out who Robin is under his mask.

 _God,_ that's a horrifying thought. How many heroes with secret identities had people they cared about, people they loved, in the dark? How many people are waiting up on _corpses?_

She doesn't move when she hears the sound of a motorbike engine. She stays immobile when Tula and Garth make their awkward goodbye, empty promises of staying in touch made before they disappear for the sea that the mountain resides beside.

She's not sure if she can anymore. Moving, breathing, living ━━ it all seems too much. She knows that there are still people out there that need their help, so many innocent civilians that have been damned by this invasion. She saw the destruction in the cities, the pain that riddled everything. There's still so much to be done, but when she tries to lift her head from Rocket's shoulder, the exhaustion in her bones weighs her down.

"C'mon", Rocket says, sounding exactly how Zatanna feels, "we're not gonna get anything done like this."

Zee sniffles, looking up at her with a spark of hope. "You're gonna stay?"

She nods, this certainty about her that Zatanna _wishes_ she had. "Somebody needs to be a hero."

"Thank you."

"You don't need to", she says as they stand up. "Do you know where the bedrooms are in this place?"

She shakes her head. "No. When I, um, when I was getting the tour, we were... interrupted."

"By what?"

A choked laugh slips out before she can stop it. "I convinced them to kidnap me."

Rocket smiles, strained but genuine. "You'll have to tell me the full story one day."

She tries to tell her that she will, but all that comes out is another sob. She can't help it; not when she remembers them, not when she thinks back to that day. They were all so happy, so alive, and now they're not.

All of them. Artemis, Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian, all _dead._ And somehow she's made it out alive.

It doesn't seem fair. They were the real heroes, the one with experience. They would be handling this so much better. Any of them could've made Tula, Garth and Roy stay, would have rallied everyone together and come up with a plan.

Instead of any of that, the world's left with _her._ The girl who wanted to be a hero, who wanted to be just like her dad. The goddamn child that's seen more death in a single day than most people see in their entire lives. The failure that couldn't even _stop_ the Invasion, that had to wait until their attackers simply _stopped._ Probably the work of another hero, one she's never going to meet, because they've joined the rest of the community six feet under.

The world didn't get a superhero. Those were ripped away, massacred in less than twenty-four hours. The Justice League is gone, the JSA most likely dead as well. The Team, the one that Zatanna had been so hopeful to join, is now a pile of ash. And maybe Red Arrow was right, maybe there are no heroes left━━

But Rocket's letting her cry on her shoulder, tears streaming down her own cheeks. She's there, even after everything, alive and breathing and understanding. Zatanna can remember the number of people she saved, her refusal to give up in Metropolis until every left last ship was destroyed, until they could leave the city and be sure that nobody else was going to be reduced to a pile of nothing.

Maybe... maybe there's _one_ hero left.

"We'll figure this out", Rocket says. If her voice cracks, if uncertainty starts to seep in, then Zatanna doesn't mention it. "Just... we need to sleep. We... _I_ can't think like this."

She gives her a shaky nod in return, letting Rocket pull her through the halls of Mount Justice. They pass an open door, the inside adorned with _Hello Megan!_ posters and something inside Zatanna _twists,_ painful yanking in her heart that triggers her tears all over again.

Rocket leaves her alone this time. She must be... Zatanna doesn't know how she's still standing. How any of them managed to stand after the first few hours of the Invasion. 

Another sob wracks her body and she curls up onto the bed. It's not hers ━━ is her home even around anymore? Was it destroyed? What about her school, her friends? ━━ but the pillow is soft, even as it grows damp with her tears. It's good to cry into, to let out her feelings.

Even if she can't get _all_ of them out. Everything feels too fresh, too new, and she can't process it. If she admits it, if she acknowledges that everyone is really gone, then... what does she do?

It's always been her dad and her up against the world, just the two of them, and it's always been enough. Now he's gone and she's left alone and she doesn't know how to deal with that. She doesn't know if she can.

She tries for a spell, just a tiny one, just to prove that she _can._ "Ffo sthgil"

Nothing happens. The bright fluorescents shine down at her and she doesn't bother to hold back to the tears. She knows it's just a symptom of her exhaustion, a side effect from all the energy she's expended, but it feels like another in a long list of failures.

Zatanna closes her eyes, and, certainly not for the first time, wishes she could be trapped in _yesterday._

* * *

The morning after doesn't feel any better. The world is still in ruins, her father is still dead and the League, all the heroes of Earth, have still been decimated. The grim atmosphere permeates the Cave, drowning out any positive emotions. Not that Zee's been able to _feel_ any, but still.

She's still tired, exhaustion settling into her bones and making itself at home. She doesn't... the magic she used, it was beyond anything she'd ever done. Mostly teleportation and shield spells, but even the simplest of things become exhausting when done so often.

And she did do them often. Getting civilians away, getting the group to wherever they were needed most, protecting them from alien rays... it drained her of all her energy.

She feels empty at this point, as Rocket slides some food her way. She wonders if she got any sleep last night. Zee didn't. Zee spent the entire time replaying the clip of her father's death in her head, watching him be reduced to nothing over and over again, until there was nothing left, until she wished she could be as nothing as him.

"Thanks, Rocket", she says in a small voice. She's not hungry, but it would be rude to push the bowl away.

"Raquel", she replies, drying the dishes she's used. She got up way before Zatanna did... assuming that she slept at all.

Zee looks up, bleary-eyed, from her bowl of cereal. The ridiculously sugary kind that she imagines was a favourite of Kid Flash. "What?"

"My real name", Rocket repeats, "is Raquel."

"Oh." It's not the most eloquent thing she could say, but this isn't a situation she's prepared for. A bitter laugh escapes before she could even try to stop it, because she's prepared for none of this. Not her dad dying, not the League being destroyed, not an Invasion that felt like the end of the world.

She can't do this, she realizes. She knows what she said to the others, about the world needing heroes, and she believes that with all of her heart.

She just doesn't think that she _counts_ as a hero. Not anymore. She wasn't enough to save the people who could actually fix this mess. She's just... she's Zatanna. A child, no matter what blood runs through her veins.

"This is insane", Ro━━ _Raquel_ says.

"What do we do?" Zatanna asks her, praying for an answer. Raquel didn't stop during the Invasion, as single-minded as Red Arrow. She's got have to an answer, some kind of solution, something for them to do. She's Rocket, the one that seemingly knows what to do, how to fix things. She's definitely more put together than Zee, that's for sure.

"I don't know", she admits, "but I have to get back home. I shouldn't have left for so long."

Zatanna gives a small nod, trying to hide the disappointment that's just _waiting_ to morph into something else, something darker. "I get it."

"Can you get back to New York okay?" Raquel asks her, concern flashing in her eyes, and it's ━━

It's _infuriating._ This girl, the _perfect_ hero, is doing maddeningly well. She's holding herself together so well after the Invasion, already thinking about how she can help her city, and what's Zatanna doing? Wallowing in her own self-loathing?

The fact that it's an act, cracks so very visible even behind Zatanna's tired gaze, doesn't come into play. Zee's not doing that, not acting like some unshakable pillar, even though she should, even though she's supposed to. Her father was a member of the Justice League and she's, what? Some dumb kid that watched him _die?_

It's not fair to Raquel, she can admit that, but when Zatanna throws the bowl, watches it shatter against the ground, and screams at her to leave, to go, to get the hell away from her, she feels just that little bit better.

That feeling is quick to fade when Raquel looks at her with understanding, sympathy. "I'll check in on you later."

"Don't bother", she says bitterly. She can't help it, and this concern, Raquel's endless goodness, isn't helping matters.

She needs something to hate, something to rage against. The aliens are gone, the others have gone their separate ways, and the only things that remain are her rage, that fury that bubbles beneath her skin, and Raquel.

So, no, Zatanna doesn't think it's _right_ or _fair_ when she curses Rocket's name, when she starts picking dishes and throwing them against the wall, but she also doesn't _care._ It's not right that the Justice League is dead. It's not fair that her father is gone forever.

There is _nothing_ left in this world that's right or fair. The only things that remain are grief and rage, the kind that settles itself deep in your soul and makes a home, festering away. She can't fight it, she's too tired to push against. All that's left to do is drown in it, in her own doubt and blame and that devastating sadness that makes her ache for things that she will never see again.

She doesn't bother following Raquel with the apology that rests on her lips. The girl would accept it without hesitation, would probably give her a hug and tell her that it's okay, that she understands, and that would only make things worse.

Zatanna doesn't want _understanding._ She wants... she wants vengeance. The League was all about justice, but the League is dead, and she's one of the few that remains. She could burn down the universe in search of the things that attacked, that stole away her entire world, and she doubts she'd have any regrets.

Justice can only get her so far and right now, she can't stand the idea of it. Justice means due process, but vengeance means swift gratification and to the girl who lost everything in one fell swoop, it's not hard to figure out which one would appeal to her more.

But she can't do that alone and something a little like pride, a little like regret, is stopping her from going after Rocket. There's no point in following up on Red Arrow, is there? He's made his feelings perfectly clear and Zatanna's not an idiot. She knows that the chances of Tula or Garth, let alone the both of them, returning to the surface are next to none.

She's all alone and she's just going to have to get used to that.

* * *

New York, a lot like her, is a shell of its former self. Bustling streets are now empty and whether that's due to fear or the sheer number of casualties, Zatanna can't tell. The answer isn't something she's exactly eager to go searching for. There are some things that are better left alone and this is probably one of them.

Not that it matters. She's got enough trouble as it is, just trying to survive. Her school is a damaged wreck, her friends aren't answering her calls and she's too scared to admit what that means. All that's really left of her old life is Shadowcrest, her family's old home, but she can't stand it in there.

Everywhere she goes is a reminder of her father and by the end of her second week holed up at home, ignoring the world outside her, she snaps. She can't stand the pictures, doesn't want to ever wake up again and think she hears her father moving in the kitchen.

If she's in that house for another second, she doesn't think she'll survive.

It's become too much. The house, the memories, everything, it's overwhelming her, threatening to drag her under an ocean that she doesn't think she could ever rise out of.

"Egnahc sehtolc otni ym mrofinu", she mutters, not giving a second thought to her actions as she storms out the doors of Shadowcrest and into the eerily empty streets of New York.

She hates it. She remembers when New York was alive, vibrant and overflowing with people, an energy to it that she never found anywhere else.

That's gone now, replaced by a foreboding feeling that hangs over her, like she's waiting for a blade to slice her head off. The whole world must feel like this, like the peace is on the verge of shattering.

The aliens are gone, but for how long? Another invasion, especially one like that, isn't going to be held off easily. Or at all, if she's being honest. They don't know the exact details of what happened, but the massive explosion in Smallville, the locals that swear they saw Kid Flash and Robin... it doesn't take a genius to figure things out.

Smallville must have been the Team's last stand. They found a way to stop the aliens and they took it and it cost them their lives.

Who says anyone's gonna make that kind of a sacrifice next time around? Who says anyone's gonna be able to? Even if they had heroes, they don't have the Justice League's resources any longer. The zeta tubes are down, the comm system shot to hell, and Zee wouldn't be surprised if the Hall of Justice was anything more than a pile of rubble.

That's hardly the worst thought she's had in the past twenty-four hours alone, but it still makes something inside her hurt.

She moves through the streets like a ghost. She _feels_ like she's a ghost, some spectre of the time before. Her life's been separated into starkly different categories, the time when everything was great and the aftermath, the week spent in a cold house surrounded by her best memories, _tormented_ by them.

She has no intention of stopping, planning to continue her walk around a city that feels like more of a ghost town than anything else. Walking ahead, trying to note what's the same and what's gone, distracts her from the empty house that awaits her, the creaking wood that tricks her into thinking that somebody else is there.

 _So._ There's no plans for her to stop, until a girl appears in front of her. Not walks, not runs, appears. One second ago, Zatanna could've sworn that nobody was there, but now, there's a pale girl, dressed in a white hooded dress, staring right back at her.

"Secret", she says.

Zee's not given a chance to ask her, _'what the fuck?'_ even though she desperately wants to. Followed by some reprimands for being out so late, for wandering around the city alone. It might come off as hypocritical, but at least Zatanna has her magic to protect her, some minor training to aid in the process. Normal civilians don't have that. Normal civilians, especially those under eighteen, probably shouldn't be out and about after an alien invasion by themselves.

But she doesn't get to say that, because a boy with blue skin runs _through_ the girl.

There's a string of curse words, and he grabs her by the arm, ignoring all her protests as he drags her into a nearby alley. His skin is cold, cold enough that she can feel it through her blazer, and she realizes that the blue isn't a simple pigment ━━ it's _ice._

"Did you see him?" The boy asks, panting in the darkness.

"See who?"

"The crazy guy with the sword!" He says. "The _flaming_ sword!"

She looks him up and down, the spiky hair gaining a note of derision from her. "I see why that'd be a problem for you."

"Oh, and you're suddenly immune to flaming swords?" He huffed. "Should've left you in the street..."

"I'm starting to wish you had", she grumbles, peering her head out to look upon the street. The girl is nowhere to be seen and she's still processing that she dissipated when the boy ran through her. 

Zee's generally trying to work through the whole ghost girl and ice boy thing. She would've been so excited about this before... now she can barely muster the strength to push through her own apathy.

But then she sees the way he glances nervously between her and the street, the genuine fear in his eyes. She thinks of the girl, of everything she knows about ghosts, and something of the old Zatanna, of the pre-invasion version of her, rises to the surface.

"You said there's a guy with a flaming sword?" She asks awkwardly.

"Calls himself Harm", he says, "not very nice."

"Kinda got that from the flaming sword."

He glares at her. _"Seriously_ regretting saving your life."

"Little late to go back on it now."

"Don't remind me", he says. It doesn't quite have the effect he's hoping for, not when the tiniest of smiles makes it onto his face. "What's your name?"

She pauses. "Zee."

"Just Zee?" He asks, smirking at her nod. "That's smart. Glad to know the kiddos still pay attention to stranger danger."

"You're not exactly ancient yourself", she huffs.

He offers her his hand. "I'm Cam."

She takes it cautiously, wincing at the cold. "Do you know the ghost?"

"Little miss Secret?" He checks, shaking his head. "No. She lured me to Harm and then went on her merry way."

"They might be working together", she suggests, peeking her head around the corner. "I think it's clear."

"Then we should move", he says, doing just that. He doesn't wait to see if she's going to follow him, but after a moment's hesitation, she does.

She can't help it. There's some part of her that wants to help, another that's curious, and another that is so, so desperate to make her father proud. And this type of thing, running around New York under the cover of night, was the sort that her father did, all in the name of protecting the world.

She doesn't have to make a habit of it, but that doesn't mean she has to turn away, ignore what is in front of her. If Cam needs her help, if there's a reckless ghost and a man with a flaming sword running around her city... well, she'd say it's her duty to help them, to honour her father's legacy.

Cam leads the way and she follows. It takes her a while to notice the little white figure in the distance ━━ this Secret girl. She must be what he's following and she gets that. She wants to find this ghost too, find out what's even going on.

Her dad would've already solved this by now. He actually knew what he was doing... she's just got a couple of spells prepared cold, a penchant for speaking backwards, and a walking icicle. Not exactly the stuff victories are made of.

But she can't give up. He wouldn't, he would never even consider it, so neither will she. For just one night, she won't wallow in her misery; she'll honour the man her father was.

She'll be the hero he never wanted her to be, the hero he raised to become.

And being that hero has lead her to an apartment block, no lights shining from inside. It could be abandoned, all the residents either leaving after the Invasion or... or not being around anymore.

She's not really in a position to ask, because a wall of fire is sent their way, and she barely has time to push Cam out of the way.

"I told you he had a flaming sword", he grumbles.

"Never doubted you for a minute", she shoots back, casting a glance over her shoulder at the shirtless man in a trenchcoat, massive sword in hand. He's... well, he's certainly more intimidating than she'd expecting and the magic she can feel coming off that sword is no joke.

Zatanna's trained, though. She's been in the world of magic since she was born, speaking spells as soon as she could talk. She is not going to be taken out by some party city reject.

"Erif nrub, nordlauc elbbub!" She shouts. A wall of fire rises and fires itself in Harm's direction, a massive storm of flame that _should_ be unstoppable.

'Should' be the imperitive word there.

With a single flick of his sword (and seriously, whee did he even get something like that?), her spell is redirected at her and Cam. She can hear him let out a curse, ready to duck out of the way, but she meets the flames with a certainty that she's missed, the kind that's only afforded to her when it comes to magic.

"Dloc dniw wolb! Dloc dniw wolb! Dloc dniw wolb!" She commands, summoning gusts of icy air to put out the fire, stopping it in its tracks.

It doesn't deter their attacker. He moves fast, faster than she can anticipate, and before she can move, before she can utter a single incantation, there's a blade pressed against her throat.

"How did it find this place?" He demands to know. "How did it find Harm's home?"

A million different thoughts run through her mind at a rate that would impress a speedster, but she can't think of a way out of this. She tries to get a spell out, he'll slit her throat. She tries to move, he'll slit her throat. Presumably, if she tries anything, that'll happen.

The one blessing is that he's focused on her, the magic-user of their little duo, and not Cam. Cam, who sends a blast of ice towards Harm, encasing him in a cube of it as he pulls Zatanna away.

"That's not gonna hold him", he says grimly. "Trust me."

She casts a glance to the encasing of ice (that Cam made... he must be a meta, right?), seeing the cracks already starting to form, and another towards the apartment building.

"We need to go inside", she decides, looking at the little ghost girl becoming her. "It's what Secret wants."

"Secret also lead us to this psycho's house", he points out, "so, not entirely sure we should trust her."

"She's not a malevolent spirit", Zatanna says. "I would've sensed that."

"Then what is she?"

"No idea", she replies, making her way towards the building, "but I'm hoping the answer is a friend."

He mutters something that sounds a little like _delusional,_ but he follows her nonetheless, a nervous glance cast back at Harm. She gets that; if she was made of what appears to be ice, she'd be pretty concerned about the guy with a flaming sword too.

Luckily for her, she's flesh and bone.

She dips inside the building, following the ghost to a bedroom, Cam silent behind her. If it weren't for the coldness he brings to the air, she might not have noticed he was still there.

They walk inside, wooden floor creaking beneath their feet, and confusion begins to mount. It's a kid's bedroom... a girl's, to be exact.

Zatanna moves towards the closet, hoping to find some answers. The girl who lived here must've been a few years younger than her. Maybe... maybe this is where the ghost girl lived. She could have died in the Invasion... but she doesn't see what that would have to do with harm.

"Zee, come over here", Cam calls. "I think I found something."

She moves beside him, plucking the photograph out of his hand with a frown. It shows a girl, Secret, and Harm. And maybe Zee's insane, but Harm doesn't look harmful. 

"Pretty sure ghost girl is his sister", Cam says grimly.

She swallows a lump in her throat, looking at the vibrant eyes, the skin that lacks the deathly pallor. "Do you think she did in the Invasion?"

"It... that could be it", he says.

"Could be why Harm's... like that."

"Grief makes us do stupid shit", he agrees, voice cracking just a little. It could be what led him here ━━ Cam probably lost someone in that tragedy too. Most people in the world would've.

Then again, most people probably didn't have to catch their father's death be replayed on national television, over and over again, along with the rest of the League, for two whole weeks.

She looks up at the ghost girl. "What do you want us to do?"

"Secret!" She stresses. "Secret!"

"She's like a broken record", Cam explains. "That's all she's been saying."

"Do you know what secret she's talking about?"

He shrugs, peering out the window. "Your guess is as good as mine."

There's a loud crash from outside, a sign that Harm has escaped from the ice, and Zee shares a look with Cam.

"We should probably get going."

"Probably", he says, already halfway out of the window. "I do not want that guy catching is creeping around his little sister's bedroom."

Her nose wrinkles in disgust. "We weren't _creeping."_

"We were creeping a little."

"Maybe you were creeping, but I━━"

He interrupts her when he comes to a violent halt. She's about to tell him to hurry up, that they don't have time, but ━━

But there's a grave in front of them, with the inscription of _'Greta Hayes, beloved sister'._ But the ghost girl is back and somehow sadder than ever, rising _out_ of said. But she's creating an image of a knife, a knife stained with blood, a knife that doesn't match up to picture Zee and Cam have tried to draw.

"You, uh, you didn't happen to see the aliens use knives, did you?" He asks in a low voice.

"No", she whispers back, horror sinking in.

"Really hoped you wouldn't say that."

And she gets that. Because what she thinks Secret, _Greta,_ is trying to tell them, is that she was killed with a knife. Murdered... murdered and buried in her own backyard and her brother has already proved himself to be dangerous and Zatanna really hates the picture this paints.

She's wrong. She's got to be wrong. She's gonna... Zatanna can't say _what_ she'll do if she isn't, but she knows it's not gonna be pretty.

The same can be said for Cam. The air's somehow gotten colder, her breathe visible in the air with every exhale she makes. A part of her wants to tell him to cut it out, that her costume isn't made for this kind of temperature, but that would imply that he has any control over it.

From the way his shoulders are hunched up, muscles wrung tight, she can't say that he does.

"Why did it come to Harm's home?" Greta's brother asks, the tip of his sword pressed against Zatanna's back. "How did it find it?"

"Ask your sister", Cam says bitterly. There's no caution here, no regard for the extremely pointy, highly flammable weapon that presses against her blazer, cutting into the material. A little rude, if you ask her... she hates that she understands it.

"Are you proud of it?" He presses on. "And you had the nerve to write beloved ━━"

"Truth", Harm says. Zee can't see his face, but she can see Cam's, that look of utter disgust she's sure is mirrored on her own. "She was the only thing Harm ever loved. Harm's heart had to be pure. Greta had to be cut out."

Zatanna keeps her gaze on the grave, where Greta rises once more. There's something electric in the air now, a crackling energy that makes her jolt.

"It casts an illusion."

"I didn't speak", Zee says. "I can't do anything if I don't speak."

"You wanna know how we found this place?" Cam asks him. "I'll give you three guesses."

There's shouting behind her, the kind that Zatanna knows she should be listening to as Secret steps forward. The pressure on her back is relieved and she jumps forward, standing beside Cam and trying to ignore the way the magic around her feels.

It's _wrong._ It's wrong and it's right and it's making her head hurt.

She's not able to do much except lean on Cam for support when Secret reaches inside her brother's chest, removing a glowing orange orb. It rips itself from his chest and into her palm, turning to nothing before their eyes, and the whole thing must enrage Harm.

He moves forward without the sword, the weapon seemingly too heavy for him to carry, but with a dagger, just like the one, Greta showed an illusion of. He makes a single swipe towards his sister and that's apparently all it takes for Cam, who fires another blast of ice at him, sending him slamming into the wall.

"Egnahc sehtolc otni sgnidnib", Zatanna murmurs, refusing to give him a chance to get back on his feet.

There are more important things for her to focus on, anyways, like Greta. She's standing over her own grave, sinking back into it and looking at them so, so sadly.

"We'll make sure you get a proper burial", Zatanna promises. "And we won't forget you."

"Yeah, gonna be having nightmares about this for a while", Cam utters under his breath, getting an elbow to his side in return.

"Secret", Greta says one last time before she disappears into the ground.

A proper burial, and she shouldn't be back again. They got her some kind of justice and now all that's left is the final parts, the pieces that are usually quite boring. She doesn't see Cam sticking around for that.

She's proven right when the sirens start to blare in the distance. "Cops are coming."

"We did make a mess", she points out.

He moves towards the fence and she follows. She'll come back later to get Greta her proper burial, but... she can't handle the police right now. That's not something she's ready for, not something she's really dealt with before.

They both pause before a break in the fence. It gives one look at the shop across the street, the illuminated word of 'secret'.

"Must've been the last thing she saw."

Cam looks away from it abruptly. "Nice meeting you, Zee. Even if I could've done without all the ghosts..."

"You too, Cam. You know, if you're staying in New York..."

"I'm not", he says shortly. "I came looking for my dad."

"Did you find him?"

"Yeah", he breathes out. "He was... he didn't make it through the Invasion."

"I'm sorry", she says. "I lost my dad too."

"Don't be", he says, lifting himself over the fence. "Mine was a piece of shit."

"Then I'm sorry for that", she decides.

He smiles at her, a little sad, a little genuine. "Your dad would probably be proud of you."

It's stupid, that that almost makes her cry, but she can feel the telltale sting in her eyes. "Thanks."

"See you around, Zee."

"Only if you're lucky."

He huffs out a laugh, movements growing quicker as the police grow nearer and she stays in that backyard, mindful of the sirens, until he's fully out of her sight.

"Ekat em emoh", she says, feeling that strange magic wrap around her as her words alter reality itself and brings her from a glorified graveyard in Manhatten to Shadowcrest, full of her very own ghosts.

This time, when she steps through the door, it's with a little more certainty than she's earned, a little more than she needs. The door slams shut behind her, the lights spring to life with little whispers, the house starts to feel alive again, and Zatanna Zatara makes herself a cup of coffee.

She's got a lot of work to do, after all. 

* * *

New York starts to heal.

It feels... _weird,_ to admit that, that things are actually getting better, but it's true. People go outside again, the streets are starting to become full once more, and the air feels lighter, happier, than it did months ago.

Zatanna would like to think that she's played a little role in that. She's been trying to live up to her father's legacy, going out almost every night to protect a city that, up until two months ago, mostly thought of her as an urban legend.

Which, admittedly, is probably down to her trying to stick to the shadows. She didn't know, back when she started, if she'd keep doing it, that she wouldn't just quit after a week or a month. She couldn't let the people believe in a hero that would just disappear.

That's no longer a concern. She's committed to this. She's buried Greta Hayes, she's saved more people than she can count, and she's finally starting to feel a sense of normalcy.

She's even thinking about reaching out to Rocket... Zee wasn't the nicest the last time they talked, but she should at least try to make amends, right? Right. Besides, it'd be nice to talk to the only other active hero which, if the news is to be believed, Rocket is.

Nobody else has sprung up anywhere. It's just her and Rocket, in two different cities, trying to hold together a world that feels seconds away from collapsing. She hasn't heard any news of Red Arrow, Atlantis has been quiet and nobody new has shown up.

She doesn't know what would happen if new heroes _did_ appear. The loss of the League feels too fresh for her to accept anyone else. Rocket is okay and Red Arrow, if he ever shows his face again, is the same.

It's just... the idea of anyone _new_ showing up, potentially picking up old mantles, makes her sick. There's a reason that she's known as Zee, and not Zatara. She could never hold the same title as her father, not in this field. It would crush her, that last admission that he's gone and never coming back. 

She knows he's gone. She spends her days in an eerily empty house, surrounded by his possessions and her own ghosts. She's just not ready to _accept_ it. Maybe one day, she will be, but until then, she's gonna stick to whatever it is _this_ is.

She's not sure it counts as heroing. Maybe vigilantism? That seems more accurate. Rocket, she's the one that's kept with the whole superhero thing. Zatanna... she's just looking for a distraction.

That night with Cam and Secret was the first one where she didn't feel like the spectre of her father was going to drag her under. She was just Zatanna, just _Zee,_ and it felt like she could get a piece of her old self back.

She hasn't quite managed that yet, but she won't give up. She _can't._ It would be the final nail in the coffin, the thing that breaks her most, if she acknowledges that she's never going to be that happy ever again.

It's not healthy and she's not gonna pretend that it is, but it's a far cry better than moping around Shadowcrest, a glorified tomb.

She makes the jump across the roof, landing on the other with only a minor fall. She's been getting better at it, sticking her landings more and more often. Practice makes perfect and she's spent so many nights running across the New York skyline.

There's a buzzing from her pocket which is... _wrong._ She's kept her phone on her every might, more of a habit than anything else, one instilled in her by her father, but she's never ━━ she doesn't talk to people anymore. She thinks a few of her old school friends might have survived the attack, but she doesn't have it in her to reach out, to offer empty platitudes and pretty words with no meaning behind them.

The point is, nobody should be texting her. 

She stops, panting into the night air, as she pulls it out of her blazer pocket. It's a single text message, from somebody called Oracle. Zee's never known anyone with that alias... she doesn't think her dad did either...

It would be dangerous to answer it. It would and she knows it and she can't deny that little feeling in her gut that tells her she should check it out anyway.

 **ORACLE:** Zatanna Zatara

 **ORACLE:** I'm putting together a team. A new kind of league

She frowns at the message, utterly unconcerned at the use of her name. That's public knowledge, yesterday's news. She never got a chance at a secret identity, not with a father that went by their surname, not with the ancient blood that pumps through her veins.

No, what makes her frown is the idea of a team. She's barely at the point where she wants to reach out to Rocket, still unable to accept the idea of her father being gone, and now this... this person wants to kick start a new League?

Not a chance in hell is Zee gonna be a part of that.

 **ZATANNA:** Hard pass

She doesn't wait for this Oracle to reply. A little fiddling with her phone and that contact is blocked.

She's not joining any new team. She knows what she said right after the Invasion, knows what she wanted then... but she also knows that it hadn't even been twenty-four hours since her father died in front of her eyes. She's willing to admit that maybe she wasn't in the best headspace.

Red Arrow was right. They're not the League and there's no point in pretending otherwise.

There's a shout from below, the sound of a woman screaming, and that's all the motivation that she needs to take off. Her feet don't touch the ground as she whispers the familiar spell to levitate, phone switched off as she leaps away into the night, all thoughts of Oracle leaving her mind.

* * *

It starts as most of these things do: with a disaster. Zatanna is patrolling New York when it begins, a little earlier than her usual starting time. The sun hasn't even begun to set yet, but a listless energy had taken control of her, pushed her out far sooner than she had expected.

Maybe some part of her knew what was coming, an early alarm bell ringing, too far away to be truly heard, but enough for her subconscious to notice.

Or maybe it's all a coincidence that she finishes tying up a would-be mugger, that she walks out into Times Square and sees the massive news coverage of an attack in Washington DC.

She tries to tell herself that it's not New York, not her problem. Probably just a supervillain that got tired of huddling in the shadows, that decided to spring forth and make their bold debut. If anyone really needs help, then they can call on Rocket.

But then she actually reads the next, and her heart comes to a sudden stop. Because the things the news coverage is showing, that G. Gordan Godfrey is ranting on about ━━ they shouldn't be around anymore. They're supposed to be locked away, utterly depowered, reduced to mere monuments.

The Appellaxians aren't supposed to be _alive._

Zee's gotten her history lesson. The Appellaxians attacked back when heroes didn't work in teams and the idea of one group was insane. They were what spurred the Justice League to form, but they're not supposed to be functional anymore. They're meant to be empty husks, abandoned would be inva━━

 _Invaders._ This is an invasion. Another one, one she can't stop either, she can't do anything against except... except this isn't as bad as the last one. It _can't_ be because Zatanna has already lost everything. She may have her life, but what sort of living is this anyway? She hasn't been alive, not really, not since they stumbled into Mount Justice, exhausted and beaten down. Ever since then, it's been a game of survival.

She's not entirely trusting of this newfound determination that springs into her chest, blossoming before she could even try to crush it under her heel. She's lost everything... but she knows what her dad would do. He wouldn't hesitate, the decision already made, and she knows, in her heart, that it already is for her too.

"Ekat em to Notgnihsaw", she says, the incantation drawing on her energy, warping reality itself around her as she is dragged from one city to another.

There's a lurch in her stomach, like she's been violently yanked to the side, and by the time it flickers out, like it was never even there, she's in a whole new city.

A whole new city that's under attack.

Zatanna barely manages to dodge the flurry of rock that's thrown her way, ducking away from it in the nick of time. She can her attacker ━━ Stone God, she's taken the tour at the Hall of Justice enough to know them all of by heart at this point. It moves slowly, slow enough for her to get out a spell.

"Tlem!" She commands, hand outstretched to the creature, following it up with, "Ekoms dna srorrim!"

A wave of smoke arises, obscuring her from the creature's view, and she takes that chance to start herding civilians away. She has no time to check if her original spell worked, if she put enough power behind it. The only thing that matters to her right now is getting people out of there, to safety.

The movements are all sickeningly familiar, and it takes all her self-control not to go back to that day as she ushers people to safety. She can't lose herself in memories of burning cities, the final screams of innocent people, the look on her father's face right before he was hit by an alien beam. If she goes down that rabbit hole, she's not going to come out, and right now, when another attack, another invasion, is underway, is not the time. She can't afford to lose herself to her emotions.

So she keeps moving until the smoke clear and the Stone God becomes visible once more. Pats of its face are gone, but enough of the monster remains that its host hasn't abandoned it. And that's not even taking into consideration the other three Appellaxians that must be wreaking havoc on the city, even if she can't see them.

She's prepping another spell, trying to think of one that could possibly help her, when an arrow flies straight at the creature, embedding itself in its arm and exploding.

She turns to see Red Arrow, mid flip, firing another arrow straight at the Stone God and something a little like hope starts to flourish in her chest.

"Got anything that can contain this?" He asks her, firing off yet another round.

"We'd need all four of them here before I could try something like that", she tells him, "and I haven't seen the other free."

"Last I saw, Rocket was taking care of the flying one."

"Golden Roc", she supplies. "Which means Wood King nad Crystal Creature are still unaccounted for."

"Who named these guys?" He huffs. "Robin?"

Zee does her best not top wince at his words. "If we can get them all here, then maybe I could try something."

"What _something?"_

"It's a spell I've been practising", she says. "Dad was going to show me how to do it properly but... I think I could manage it."

"I'm gonna need more than that", he says, notching another arrow. 

"I can do it", she says firmly. "Don't really have another choice."

"I'll get Rocket", he tells her. "You work on getting that spell ready."

She bites her lip, but nods. The one she's thinking of isn't really supposed to be used on such a large area... at least, not by her. She hasn't practised it once before, not really. All she's got are the words, she's never had to put into play before, but it's like she told Roy, she doesn't have another choice. The Appellaxians will destroy Washington and then move onto the rest of the world.

And everything is far too fragile after the last invasion. Earth must have seemed like easy pickings to them, a simple attack now that their defenders are gone. 

She'd forgotten that the League was more than just people who fought villains. They were a _symbol._ They were a sign that the Earth was protected, that invaders and villains alike better beware. Now that they're gone... Zee has to wonder if anyone _else_ has decided that Earth would make a good hit.

It's possible that Oracle was onto something. She's just not convinced that she needs to be a part of it.

She'll mention it to Red Arrow, maybe send him Oracle's contact, and once all of this is over, she'll crawl back to New York and pretend it never happened.

(Or she'll try, at the very least).

A wave, a _tsunami,_ hits into Stone God, washing him towards Wood King and the Crystal Creature, and Zatanna is greeted with Tula, riding the water with glowing eyes. Garth appears next to her, shooting streams of water towards the aliens and disappearing back into the wave before they can launch their next attack.

And hovering above the Atlantians, with Red Arrow in a bubble to the side, is Rocket, trading blows with Golden Roc like she's born for this. It's a little breathtaking, to be honest watching as she fights without hesitation. Every move to deliver in an instant, leaving her with no time to doubt herself, and Zatanna is kind of in awe of her.

Everybody comes crashing into one circle, with Red Arrow giving her a pointed look.

"If you wanna do something", he says, "now would be the time."

With a tiny glare sent his way, Zatanna closes her eyes, focuses her energy. She's got this.

"Ekahs siht ebolgwons!" She incants, feeling the wind start to swirl around her, the wet drops of snow falling on her face as the force field snaps into place.

Rocket gives her an impressed look. "What spell was _that?"_

"Snowglobe", she says, a little breathless. "I figured it would keep them here?"

"Good plan", Arrow says. "Garth, Tula, can you use the snow?"

Tula nods in confirmation. "We should be able to."

"Okay", he says. "Then we're gonna hit them with everything we've got. No holding back. We screw up here, and we're fucked. Everybody understand?"

"Yessir", Garth replies, with only a trace amount of sarcasm. 

Arrow rolls his eyes, ignoring him. "Zee, I want you and me on Wood King and the stone guy. Use some magic, light the wooden one on fire. We'll come up with a plan for the other one together."

"Rocket", he continues, "you're on Golden Roc. Tula, offer her some cover. And Garth..."

"Yes, my _favourite_ archer?"

"Just hit the crystal one until he stops", he says with a resigned sigh.

It's with that sigh that everybody splits off into their separate directions. Tula and Rocket take on Golden Roc, sounds of violence echoing over as they begin, and Garth leaps into battle with water constructs, leaving Zatanna and Red Arrow to their own devices. He fires more arrows, keeping them back while Zatanna makes her decision.

"Red", she hisses to him, "you've got more of those exploding arrows, right?"

"Yeah", he says, "not enough to take out the stone guy..."

"Stone God", she corrects, "and leave it to me."

Unlike the snowglobe spell, the duplication process is one she is deeply familiar with. She used to use it to sneak out all the time and while she may not have used it to the extent she plans to here, she's still got years of practise under her belt. The spell is practically second nature to her at this point, one she'd be able to use in her sleep. It gives her some reassurance that she won't mess this up completely.

"Etaerc Der Worra snoisulli", she recites, watching as her magic makes dozens of Red Arrows appear out of nowhere, all of them firing arrows towards the Stone God, following in the original's lead.

Which leaves the Wood King to her and unlike with the other monster, this time, she knows that a little fire will solve her problem.

" Thgil eht Doow Gnik no erif!"

The alien goes up in flames and Zatanna finds it more than a little cathartic. It's not the same kind of invaders that stole away her world, that ripped the rug out from under her, but weren't their goals the same? To take the Earth, to steal it away and destroy its inhabitants? And they probably thought it would be easy, thought that nobody would dare fight against them, because there was nobody left.

No Superman, no Wonder Woman, no Batman, no Green Lantern. Just an empty planet, devoid of its heroes.

Earth is not without protectors, though. They may not be their mentors, may not be as powerful or as good as them, but as she leans on Red Arrow for support, watching as their allies finish off the Crystal Creature and Golden Roc, she hopes that it's enough, that this fended off invasion is a signal to the rest of the universe that Earth is not going to go out without a fight.

"We need to look into this", Arrow says grimly. "Fast."

Her brow furrows into a frown. "Why? We fought, they lost, we won. What's there to worry about?"

He glowers at the smouldering remains of Wood King. "The Appellaxians are what brought the Justice League together in the first place. Don't you find it a little suspicious that they're also what brought us together?"

"We're not a team", Zee points out.

"We should be."

"What?"

"You were right", Arrow says. "The world still needs us, _clearly."_

She pushes herself upwards, no longer leaning on him. "No, _you_ were right! We're not heroes! We're not... we can't be the Justice League."

"And we won't be", he says firmly. "I used to... joining the League used to be my dream. It was all I wanted..."

"But now?"

"Now the League is dead", he says harshly, features softening when he takes in her crestfallen expression. "So we won't be the League. We'll be something else."

"Got any ideas?"

He waves at Garth, Tula and Rocket, becoming them over. "I'm open to suggestions."

Zatanna ━━ she doesn't know if she wants to argue, tell him that there's no chance in hell of her joining any team, or coming up with a name. Because this? The Appellaxians attempt to take their planet? She doesn't believe for a second that it's the last time the world is gonna have to face something like this. Nit to mention that the supervillains have moved past their refractory period, getting ready to unleash all kinds of hell upon the planet unless somebody's there to stop them.

The world needs a superhero team, as much as she hates to admit it. Her father would want her on it, fighting the good fight if he couldn't. Maybe he'd prefer for her to be safe at home, maybe that's what he'd tell himself, but Zee knows her father. If she didn't help out here, if she didn't join whatever group Red Arrow is putting together, he would be disappointed in her.

She won't disrespect his memory. It's the last thing she has left, the only thing that he left behind, and if she tarnishes it, throws it away in favour of safety... forget his disappointment, because Zatanna will never forgive herself for that.

There's no _choice_ here. It's not something she particularly wants, but it's something that the entire planet needs, and that has to come first. She's not allowed to be selfish, not allowed to huddle away in Shadowcrest.

"We need to stick together", Red Arrow says. "Something like this comes knocking again, we need to be prepared. We need to know each other's moves."

"We'd need a base", Raquel says. "Somewhere to work out of."

"Leave it to me", Arrow says dismissively. "I can... handle that side of things. I just need to know that all of you are in."

Garth and Tula share a glance. "Queen Mera will have to give her permission first but... we would be honoured to join."

"Dakota City can handle itself for a while. I'm in."

Arrow looks at her, maybe a bit hopeful. "And you, Zatanna?"

"So long as you lead us", she says, arms crossed. "If you do... then I guess I'm in."

Tula smiles sadly. "It's what Kaldur would have wanted."

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that that gets to him, so Zee rests her head against his arm, speaking softly. "Do you think I should turn off the snowglobe?"

Arrow looks up at the swirling, controlled storm above them. "Probably."

"Hguone htiw eht ebolgwons", she says, the snow fading away into nothing as the force field drops, opening the are back up to the world.

The empty shells of the Appellaxians lay before them. The Crystal Creature has been shattered into tiny pieces, little pieces of the Stone God scattered around the place. Golden Roc has been sliced into tiny pieces and the smell of smoke drifts over to them from Wood King's remains. There are no hosts left if the Appellaxians ever tried to come back and while she thinks that's the end of them, she also thinks that Roy has a point.

It's strange that she got a message about restarting the League (because Oracle specifically said _League_ in her text, didn't she? It may not have been capitalized, but there's nothing else that Zatanna would think of when she sees that word) and the attacks by the very beings that drew the original Justice League together. They might not have been close together, but she can't quite shake the eery feeling she has.

Something about this was planned. She knows that, down to her bones. The only thing she's unsure of is Oracle involvement.

Perhaps that's a mystery for another day. They did technically save the world today. She got to test out her new spell, see that it works just fine... it's been a good day. She's had a lot worse since the Invasion happened and if she wants to bask in the contentments of this moment, then who can really blame her? Who can blame any of them, for wanting to stay in this tiny slice of peace just a little longer? 

* * *

Zatanna stares up at the New York brown house, more than a little sceptical. She's made a commitment, though, promised Red Arrow that she would join his team, and it's not like she can back out now. He's made the base in her city; it'd just be _rude_ if she refuses to work with them now.

Even if she's a little late to their meeting. There was a minor panic over what she was supposed to wear, if she was meant to come in her hero garb or play things more casually. She went down the latter route in the end, but it cost her time.

Raquel is already there, dressed in her civvies (which is one hell of a relief), and she waves when she sees Zatanna. They haven't talked since the Appellaxian incident... Zee hasn't had contact with any of them until Arrow texted her this address and a time.

"I see our esteemed ally found us a place to work out of", Zatanna says, trying to smile. "What do you think?"

"Arrow's gotta be loaded", she says with utter certainty. "No way he's affording this place on minimum wage."

Zee can't help the small bubble of laughter she lets out. "Yeah, I don't see that happening either."

"Do you think we go in?"

She casts a glance around them. "I don't see Tula or Garth... they might already be inside."

"Must be", Raquel agrees. "I was five minutes late."

Zee winces. She hasn't checked the time on her phone, doesn't wanna know how bad at being punctual she is. "After you."

Raquel rolls her eyes, smirking a little as she holds open the door. "I insist, milady."

She grins, stepping inside the massive brown house, but any amusement is quick to drop her face as she takes in the building. It looked big from the outside, but this is insane, and Rocket's comment of Arrow being loaded seem to ring true.

The foyer alone is massive, and it holds the rest of their makeshift team, all apparently waiting on them.

"Glad you could make it", Arrow calls. "I was beginning to think you'd back out."

"Little hard to do when you've parked yourself in my backyard", Zee replies, gazing around, "Is that a chandelier?"

He gives a nervous chuckle. "I got this place second hand."

"From who? The queen of England?"

"Uh, not quite", he says. "More like the Justice Society."

Zee's eyes practically pop out of her skull. "How the hell did you manage that?"

He shrugs. "Been spending some time with Wildcat since the Invasion. I mentioned that we needed a place and he suggested here."

"So you said we needed a clubhouse and he gave you a mansion."

"Mansion seems like a stretch."

"Pretty fitting to me", Raquel chips in. "I didn't know you knew Wildcat."

"Di━━ Black Canary did. He, uh, he helped train her when she was my age."

"That's... kind of awesome", Raquel admits. "Is he gonna train us?"

"I'm working on that", Arrow says. "For now... what do you think?"

Tula goes on the tips of her toes, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I think it's amazing", she says sweetly. "Knew you'd be the perfect choice for leader."

"Are we sure we didn't just elect him because he's the oldest?" Garth asks. "Because all he really does is shoot people with pointy sticks."

"I will feed you fish tacos", Red threatens, no real malice in his words. "Is that what you want?"

"On second thought", Garth backtracks, "Roy will be an excellent leader and we are lucky to have him."

Zatanna raises an eyebrow. "Roy?"

"Garth, buddy, I'm gonna garrote you."

"A decree from our fair and reasonable leader", Tula teases. "How can you say no?"

Roy sighs, gritting his teeth. "My name is Roy Harper. Ward ━━ former ward to Oliver Queen."

"The left-wing billionaire", Zee muses. "Nice."

"I'd really appreciate it if you kept that on the down low", he says. "Not all of us have public identities."

"Not all of you could pull it off."

"If that's what you wanna tell yourself."

"It is, actually."

"Good for you", Roy says. She likes knowing his name; it suits him. And she guesses that if Roy is Red Arrow, who was Speedy... that'd make Oliver Queen the Green Arrow. She can see that pretty easily, to be honest. It fits, like a jigsaw piece finally coming together.

Makes sense on how he keeps getting those arrows, too. She bets they'd cost a fortune, but he must have one. There's no way Green Arrow would've risked his sidekick being left in the dirt. He probably inherited Queen's fortune... Zee's kinda impressed right now.

"As fun as this is", Tula says, "and it has been quite fun, I believe we were promised a tour?"

"Yeah, Harper, here's the tour?"

"You're not getting a tour", he scowls. "Tours are for nice people. Bedrooms are upstairs, training rooms are downstairs, the kitchen's to your left and you can figure out the rest yourselves."

"Really gonna leave us like that?"

"If you can't figure out your way around here, then I have no hope in this team."

"That's fair", Raquel concedes. "So, do we get to pick our own bedrooms?"

"Uh, I guess?" He says. "I've already put some of my stuff in one of them, so that's off-limits, but the rest are free."

"Awesom", Zatanna grins, making a run for the stairs. "Dibs on the biggest one!"

"Oh, hell no!" She hears Raquel says. "No way I'm letting that happen."

There's half a taunt out of Zee's mouth, when Rocket decides to cheat, using the belt that gives her her powers to fly ahead. It has to be against some sort of rules, but when she looks back at Roy for any sort of help, he just smirks. Must be picking favourites already, then. It's probably a little bad that Zatanna thinks she should be at the top of the list in the ranking of who the best member of this team is.

She's got cool magic. She knows the city he's decided to move into. Honestly, what more does he need? She supposes she could make some cupcakes... maybe those would tide him over... 

It hits her then that this is the most relaxed, most happy, she's been since... well, since the Invasion. She doesn't feel like the old Zatanna, not at all, but this new one, she isn't awful. She's much better than whoever was moping around Shadowcrest for days on end.

Zee thinks she could learn to like the new her... especially if this happy feeling continues. She's missed it, missed having friends, which she's pretty sure these people count as. Can't fight off multiple invasions without at least considering each other buddies, right? Right. She's sure there's a rule about that somewhere.

Maybe she'll ask Roy to see how he'll react. That's the type of thing that a friend would do. 

* * *

It's surprisingly easy to fall into a new routine with this team. They don't do everything together, not all team members are even in New York at the same time, but they make it work. Sometimes, Red Arrow will be in Star or Raquel in Dakota. Maybe Tula and Garth will return to Atlantis. It doesn't matter, though, because there are always at least two people in New York.

Zee's always one of them. A benefit, she supposes, of living in the city. It's nice to know that she has people that have her back, nice to know that she's not alone anymore. These people, they get what she's been through, what she's lost. They suffered the same fate as her, all to different extents, all in different ways, but they support each other.

It makes the good days even better and the worse days a little less difficult. Nothing about it is perfect, but she knows it's better than what she had before. It's what she imagined joining the Team would be like, this sense of comradery, this friendship, this unshakable bond. 

Once upon a time, she would have done anything to be a part of the Team. Now, she's got her own, a whole different entity than the one she dreamed about joining, but just as fulfilling. She's not going to say that they're just as important ━━ because she thinks that maybe, this new group she's in is bigger than the mini Justice League.

It was bound to happen, that somebody would catch onto them working together. There's no official name yet (Raquel insists they wait for the perfect one) but it's something the world has been lacking for the past year. Something they've finally given back, even if it did take them a while.

Just in time, too, considering the copious rise in villains over the past few months.

"Ecrofnier S'tekcor ecrof elbbub htiw ym skcigam!" Zatanna shouts as Rocket encases the giant oversized robot that Toyman is hiding in. It isn't entirely necessary (she's seen the strength those bubbles can have) but it makes her feel a little bit better about the unhinged guy pointing deadly weapons at them.

"Thanks!" Rocket calls to her.

She gives a small nod in response, trying to hide her smile. It's not that she doesn't like working with Tula or Garth (or, Aquagirl and Temptest, as the press have started calling them) or that she hates teaming up with Roy... it's just that she and Rocket click better. Their powers play off each other so well and Zatanna finds it easier to study her moves than those of the others.

It's just simple chemistry in teamwork and nothing else... Zee refuses to accept anything else.

She doesn't have time for stuff like that. The last time she felt like that about somebody... Robin was cute and funny and flirty and, yes, that crush of hers was part of the reason she wanted to join the Team, but she's also had to grapple with the fact that Robin is also dead.

That's made her feel weird about feelings like that cropping up again, so it's best for everybody involves if she pushes them deep, deep down, and pretends they don't exist.

Zee's gotten pretty good at acting over the past year, anyway. It's not like a little more is gonna kill her.

Though, looking at him strain against the bubble he's encased in, she's got a feeling that Toyman would love to.

A shame he's never going to get a chance, as Rocket has already set him down in front of ARGUS agents. They've been arriving at a lot of villain attacks, trying to help out where they can, but Red Arrow doesn't trust them. Could be a little of Green Arrow's anti-authority nature rubbing off on him, but Roy's her leader, the only she'll ever listen to. If he says that they shouldn't trust ARGUS, shouldn't antagonize them either, then that's exactly what they're gonna do.

So Zee doesn't do anything as they load him into the back a truck. She instead waits patiently by the curb for Rocket to come flying down, looking at least a little majestic as she does so.

"I'm gonna call it a night", she says. "Gotta get back to Dakota anyways."

"Have a good night", Zee says in lieu of goodbye. "See you next weekend?"

"Always", Raquel beams. It's just unfair, honestly, how she looks when she smiles at Zatanna like she's the only person in the whole wide world. Would it kill her to be a little less adorable?

She starts to fly away, in the direction of her home town, when she comes to a sudden stop. It's jarring, to see her flying so smoothly and then jar into stillness.

"Rocky?" Zatanna shouts up to her, trying to keep her concern at bay. "Are you okay?"

A bubble forms around Zatanna instead of an answer, and Zee finds herself pulled into the air until she's right next to Raquel. She tries to ask what the hell is going on, but Raquel just points to the sky.

Zee turns, unsure of what to expect, but it's certainly not a green dot that grows bigger and bigger with every passing second. It doesn't look like a crashing ship and the closer that it gets, the more that she would swear it's ━━

"Green Lantern", Rocket breathes out, clearly in awe. "Do you... do you think one of them survived?"

Zatanna feels a foolish amount of hope. "They could've! Maybe... maybe one of them was off-world? It could take time to get back home..."

They keep looking at the green glow, and Zee prays to every single magical deity she knows that one of the Lanterns survived the Invasion. This would be so _much_ easier with them, and, hey, who's to say that if a Lantern survived, nobody else did? Some of the League could still be alive... Her _dad_ could still be alive...

That dream, however, is shortlived. The glow gets closer and it soon becomes clear that whatever Lantern this is, it's not a man. When she gets within twenty feet of them, Zatanna'snot even sure if she doesn't an adult.

It's not any of the Green Lanterns that they know. They're not blonde aliens in a white mini skirt and something in her heart cracks. For a moment, for a few wonderful seconds, she actually believed that her father could be alive, and now this girl has snatched that dream away from her.

When she's come to stop in front them, a happy little smile on her lips like she didn't just crush Zatanna's heart, Zee can't help the anger that rises.

"Who are you?" She demands, practically boiling in her anger.

The girl tilts her head, still smiling. "I'm Arisia Rrab? The new Lantern of Sector 2814?"

She wilts under Zatanna's glare. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No", Raquel drops in, before Zatanna can spit some venom at somebody who doesn't deserve it. "We're just... surprised to see you. We haven't had any Lanterns for a year."

Arisia frowns, looking down at the streets below them. "I know and I'm sorry. I... I wish I could've been here sooner."

Well, Zatanna thinks bitterly, isn't that _wonderful._ She _wishes_ she could have been here sooner, like that would change anything. 

The anger in her starts to mount, and she has to bite down on her tongue to stop herself from demanding answers. Where the hell were the Green Lanterns when Earth was attacked? When three of them were murdered? When an entire planet suffered at the hands of an unknown force? Where were the so-called protectors of the universe then?

Oh, sure, they've given Earth a new Lantern now. But what if that had been too late? What if the Appellaxians had succeeded?

No, Zatanna is not happy about this, and she's got a feeling that Roy won't be either. Right now, it doesn't matter if Arisia herself has good intentions or not. It doesn't because they were alone for a year, because the Invasion almost destroyed them all, because the Corps abandoned a planet they promised to protect.

It doesn't matter what Arisia is like because until she gets some answers, Zatanna has no intentions of welcoming her to their planet.

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh, that definitely... happened. Kinda like it, not gonna lie, but what I wanna know is if you liked it ie please drop a comment, I'm in constant need of validation.
> 
> Anyways... if you've got any questions about this AU or you just wanna talk, my Tumblr is flamebiirds


End file.
